Simione Tuvuki 
Member of Parliament, Lenora Qereqeretabua
Member of Parliament, Lenora Qereqeretabua took the stand as a witness in the trial against the suspended police officer who allegedly assaulted a bus driver early last year.
The case was called at the Labasa Magistrates Court yesterday.
It’s alleged that the police officer violently tried to apprehend a bus driver at the Labasa Bus Stand.
Mohammed Zoheb Anwar is charged with one count of assault causing actual bodily harm.
Qereqeretabua provided an account of the events that unfolded that day.
She testified to the court that while waiting at the Labasa Bus Stand, her attention was drawn to an agitated woman who was waving and pointing at someone in a bus.
Qereqeretabua says she also saw someone moving violently around the bus driver’s seat.
She says that as she got into the bus, she saw the police officer holding the bus driver’s upper body.
Qereqeretabua informed the court that the bus driver was in distress, clunching onto his throat.
The complainant, Elvin Ritesh Mani, also took the stand as a witness.
Mani justified to the court that he did not comply with the police officer’s instruction to present his driving license as the offense was not explained to him.
He informed the court that the police officer tried to lift him up and pulled his neck back and forth and sideways.
A total of five witnesses will take the stand in this trial.
The court has heard from three witnesses, and is yet to hear from another two.
The trial continues on Monday, August 21st.
